Stevo's Unofficial Build Thread, FJ60 + FJ62 + FJ80 Axle = FJ68?

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Yesterday was both a good and bad day.

First the good:
I picked up a nice winch for the truck, a Warn 8274.
I also got a new job at a local machine shop. I'm going to be giving my current boss my two weeks notice today and see how that goes.

And now the bad:
We had the family dog put down yesterday, and we will miss her terribly.

 

[Heckraiser]

RIP, looks like a nice pooch

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

She was, didn't have a mean bone in her body.

 

[klinetime574]

Sorry about your dog dude. I live three hours from home so I don't get to see much of mine

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Busy weekend, so I didn't have much time to work on the cruiser.

I did get the fuel lines run and the battery back in. I tried starting it up last night and it cranked fine, however I'm not getting any spark from my distributor.
I'm gonna pull that apart tonight and see what the deal is. Hopefully it will be something simple.

Also took the Cummins out for some full throttle passes through a muddy field Friday. It only had 2wd but it was a blast until it became 1 wheel drive.

 

[boots4]

A little fun with starter fluid and that tire will be ready to go.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Yeah, that's what I'm hoping.

I wanna try and get that bead seated tonight along with hopefully getting the truck running. If the dizzy is shot I have a line on a nice Jim C dizzy.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Its ALIVE!!!

Got the engine running tonight, it turned out the problem was a loose wire on the coil.
Engine runs great, replaced the oil with some fresh 15w-40 diesel oil, filled up the coolant, and got the air out of the power steering lines.

Now about the saginaw pump. All I can say is wow. I can turn my 35" KM2's effortlessly. I knew the steering would be improved but I had no idea it would be this much better. Honestly for those contemplating a saginaw swap, go for it, you won't regret it. Its a 500% improvement over the stock PS pump.

Also was able to see how the brakes worked, the 4runner upgrade and having the rear disc brakes from the fzj80 rear make for some nice stopping power.

I also set the tire back on its bead for the cummins. All in all it was a good night for starting fluid.

I can't wait to put the tread on these tires to work.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Sweet man, glad to hear that it's running. The cummins' sidewall is a bit beat up, no?

Decided to go without the fan shroud?

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Yeah the tires are pretty beat, i'll probably end up running some 37" military tires on it.

I have the bottom half of the shroud on, I might try to get the top on now that the coolant lines are finished.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Not too much has been going on, but hopefully that will change over the next few days.

Today I received the spacer I needed to adapt the hy-steer kit TRE to my 60 series pitman arm. Should save me the hassle of pulling and swapping my pitman arm.

Once that's in I'll set the toe and finish up the steering.

Also I called Marlin, and got a tracking number on my rear driveshaft should be in tomorrow. While i'm redrilling my transfercase flange for that, I'll pull the front and get that ready to accept the shaft I'm gonna make.

I have two options for the front shaft, I can cut and lengthen a minitruck shaft I have. Or option two is to cut the DC joint off and make up a long travel square tube driveshaft.

What do you think would be better?

 

[SNLC]

I have two options for the front shaft, I can cut and lengthen a minitruck shaft I have. Or option two is to cut the DC joint off and make up a long travel square tube driveshaft.

What do you think would be better?

I wouldn't run a square prop shaft unless it is strictly an off-roader. It snows where you live right? So you will be in 4wd at speeds once in awhile right? That means you want a nice balanced prop shaft.

I looked back a page or two....what is the drama with prop shafts all about? FJ80 axle to FJ60 t-case? Why couldn't a shop not simply modify an FJ60 or FJ80 shaft to bolt right in? And $700 for a custom shaft is rediculous. I had my front lengthen for $125, balanced too and it took 1 day. I had my rear completly rebuilt (even the double cardan) for about $150. That took 1 day too. I am sure they could do me a custom shaft, rebuild and balance for $200ish. All it would take is supplying them with the prop shaft(s). Used FJ60 & FJ80 prop shafts can be had all day long at $50 a pop.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

I got quotes from a couple places by me, they all want some crazy amount of money for shafts for some reason.
Best deal I could find is to order one from marlin crawler.

I want to run DC shafts front and rear, and the guys at the shops looked at me like I was nuts. I really need to find a good shop in the area.

The only thing I'm concerned about if I lengthen the minitruck shaft is that I might not have enough slip in it for the front.

It does snow a bit up here, but I really shouldn't see speeds over 35-40 mph off road. That's why I was sorta leaning toward the square tube shaft. Also it is just until I gather the funds/parts for the diesel swap.

 

[boots4]

I'm with RMP&O. I'd try and make that mini shaft work.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

It does seem like a better idea. Maybe I can cut and weld some of the female splined sections from the other shafts I have laying around to extend the amount of slip section.

Worst case, I'll build the square shaft.

 

[boots4]

I tried that and it failed. I beveled it quite a bit, aligned it, heated it up, and put down 4-5 passes. It broke on my first obstacle, but maybe you'd have better luck.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Were you using a 220V welder? If so that's not so promising for me.
Maybe I could sleeve it.

 

[boots4]

Yup, I used a strong welder. Pining it could certainly help.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Well first thing i'll do tomorrow is take some measurements, and see if even with an extended splined section the shaft will work.

There is no use spending a bunch of time on a shaft that will slip out every time the suspension flexes out.

If the length will work, I'll try all the things I know how to do to strenthen the joint.

 

[SNLC]

Well first thing i'll do tomorrow is take some measurements, and see if even with an extended splined section the shaft will work.

There is no use spending a bunch of time on a shaft that will slip out every time the suspension flexes out.

If the length will work, I'll try all the things I know how to do to strenthen the joint.

and no use spending money on a shaft that will get tossed soon. The lengthen sholdn't be a big deal, did the shops around you want to rape you on that too? I just measured flange to flange and sent it off. $125 later I was good to go and like I say it was balanced too. The drivelines shops got all the equipment to do it easy and fast so no reason why it should cost very much.

You could do it yourself and if it fails toss in the square shaft to hold you over until the motor swap is done.